Eyelashes

Brianna was so excited to find these eyelashes in her treat box. She begged and begged to put them on the day she got to pick them out. I finally gave in. Unfortunately, it was Sunday. So of course, ever the drama queen, she succeeded in talking us in to wearing them to church! (Of course that might have had something to do with the fact that they were hard to get off!) We put a hat on her to kind of over shadow them, but of course she still got all kinds of comments!

Camping Trip

We got together with a bunch of our friends over Spring Break for a camping trip. The kids were so excited that for days they were asking, "Is today the day we go camping???" They had sleeping bags and flashlights on the ready. The day finally came and we set off.

We got to the site we were sharing with our friends, and Brianna went inside their cabin and said "I am going to sleep in here with Max because I love him!" We set that straight right off!!! We pulled out our borrowed tent that we thought was supposed to be big enough for all of us. It seemed a little small though as we started setting it up. Lo and behold.... The queen size air mattress that Brian and I sleep on filled up the entire tent!!! We told the kids they were going to have to sleep outside. They were not sure what to think of that. Luckily though, our friends had not left yet and they brought us another small tent for the kids. Though Ethan wound up with us both nights, Brianna made it all by herself in the tent... all alone... for two nights! What a brave girl! We were so proud.

Ethan mostly wanted to go fishing and cried and cried over a fishing pole before we left. So I gave in and bought him a superman with his birthday money. Of course, only to find out that he wanted the spongebob one instead!!! I told him I did not see the spongebob one. He replied... "I did. It was at the NEW SuperTarget!" (for a 3 year old sometimes he is just too smart for his own good! The first morning all we heard was "I want to go fishing NOW!" We climbed down to the water (extremely low due to no rainfall this year) and got set. The kids (and mom) would have nothing to do with putting the worms on the hook, but daddy helped them cast and they had fun reeling it right back in. They just couldn't understand that you needed to let it set a little bit first if they wanted to catch a fish! And Ethan was done after about 4 casts and then just threw rocks in the water. They had fun though they didn't catch any fish and went back later that night.

The trip was a lot of fun. Mom & Dad stayed up late playing games and talking with their friends. The kids got filthy. We absolutely froze at night. We all got sunburned. We all are looking forward to the next one!

Turkeys

Last night at the dinner table, Brianna started drawing, making it up as she went. She was so excited when she informed us she had just learned how to draw turkeys!

Cute Baby Zoe!

We were babysitting Zoe one day while I was at Mom's. We decided to take Zoe out to the flowers for a photo shoot. I can't believe she is already a year old and Sooooo cute!

At one point she started babbling in the way she does - just talks and talks in her own language - and got so into it that she was leaning forward to get more leverage out of her lungs. She just talked and talked

to the flowers and grass. But for all she talked to it, she REFUSED to try to walk on it! I wish I had my video camera to capture it! But pictures will have to do!

Ethan's Family Birthday

Since Mom and Dad were not able to come down for Ethan's birthday like they had planned and since I was not able to make it up for Zoe's birthday, we made a trip up to East Texas to celebrate together. Ethan actually got to blow out his candles at this one! And when Zoe would not open her presents, Ethan just had to help out by unwrapping hers too! Helaman & Nathan's family were there as well as Brian and Colton and Mema. What fun!

Brianna's fashion Show

Ever the center of the lime light, my daughter insisted on having a fashion show this week.

She dressed herself and came up with her own poses.

Think she has a career ahead of her?

Ethan's Train Cake

Ethan found a picture of a cake in a magazine and just had to have it for his birthday. He talked & talked about his train cake. It did not look too hard, so I thought, why not? WOW! little did I know that it was an 8 hour cake! I spent 4 or 5 hours putting the train together. Now that includes running back to the store for a missing cookie type and making the frosting, but still! I was glad I started it the night before. But he REALLY liked it. All of my birthdays were always swimming parties, so the only way I distinguish them are the incredible cakes my mom made. Hopefully, mine will remember them to. Building on to the tradition!

Ethan's 3rd Birthday

Ethan is officially 3. He is growing WAY to fast and is WAY too smart for his own good. We had a park playdate for his party which Ethan, of course, just wanted to stay home. Untill he heard there were going to presents, then it was, "how about.... yeah, let's go!". It was such a windy day that we only got one candle lit. After MANY tries, we just gave up!

Dallin, EZ, Avery, Jacob, Max and various siblings and family came to help us celebrate - even Brandon & Melissa.

He got lots of toys, played hard and was super happy. At one point Ethan had me come up and ride on his bus (the steering wheel on the playscape) to the Zoo. Other kids came and joined us and we walked around the zoo (park) pointing out animals and acting like them. It was a hoot. Too bad we did not get it on video!

We even caught him coming back for seconds on the cake!

At the end of the day we knew it was all worth the hard work to put it together. The evidence.... Ethan fell asleep at the dinner table @6pm and slept till 8 the next morning!

"3 Little" Pigs Brianna Style

So I came across the attached video taken in July 2008. Brianna had wanted to go swimming, but I told her it was too late but she could take a bath. So we compromised and she went swimming in the bath. While there she made up a "show" as she calls them. It was so cute I had to make her do it again so I could videotape it. Get your popcorn and enjoy!!!

Kelsey Creek

When I was a little girl, we loved to play in the creeks around Kelsey. We would fish for crawdeads and other things. There was a little swimming hole down the hill from Mema's & Granny's that we had a blast in. We didn't care about the mud or even think about the possibility of snakes. It was just fun and adventurous. Now I wouldn't go near them or let my kids! I snapped this photo with my phone on a recent trip. the sun coming through the trees just made me think of being a kid and what fun we had.

My daughter 4 going on 16

So yesterday I asked my daughter what she wanted to do. She replied "go somewhere". ok, so where do you want to go? "To gattiland to play games together" Well, I don't think we will go today, maybe Tuesday (1/2 price games!). Where else "to CiCi's for Pizza". You must be hungry... "yes, I'm Dying". Well, I am starting lunch now. Somewhere else. "To the nail place to have my nails painted". Well, what if I painted your nails? "No! it will take too long!" Well, how long do you think it will take at the nail salon? "1 Second!" Ha! Ok, somewhere else.... "To the store to buy me some new clothes." New clothes! "Yeah, I don't have enough new clothes!" Didn't we just pull down a whole box of new clothes and shoes for the Spring? "oh" Where else? "To IKEA and to have a snack" and so on! Oh my! if she is like this now.... what will I have to deal with at 16!!!